Cold Emailing Ali Abdaal's Scriptwriter

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The Back Story...

Recently, I found myself engrossed in YouTube, trying to understand its dynamics, and so I was watching Ali Abdaal.

Now, if you're not familiar with Ali, he's a renowned productivity expert with a knack for crafting compelling YouTube content.

I spent hours binge-watching Ali's videos, absorbing his knowledge, appreciating his approach. And that's when I discovered George Blackman.

George Blackman is the man behind the scenes, the wordsmith of Ali Abdaal's YouTube scripts. Intrigued, I decided to do a little digging.

One search led to another, and I found myself watching a lone video on George's YouTube channel. It had only been a week since its launch.

Something George mentioned in the video struck me. I took that nugget of wisdom, spun it into an email, and shot it his way.

While my curiosity had me knee-deep in all things George Blackman, I couldn't help but notice his LinkedIn presence. He was a fresh face on the platform, his posts were engaging, but the interaction was lagging.

I said, here was an opportunity to build a network. A chance to learn a thing or two about YouTube scriptwriting from George. And in turn, I could share a few tidbits about mastering LinkedIn - a fair exchange. So, I dashed off an email to George.

The Email

So, the subject line is "wanna make your LinkedIn weirder?" 

Now this is directly speaking to the video that I am referring to. Towards the end of the video, he issued a friendly warning that things might start getting a bit weird on his profile as he begins to post more. This tickled my curiosity and sparked an idea.

I fired off an email to him with the subject line. I think it caught his attention because it tied in with something he had just spoken about. In the body of the email, I extended a hand of support, "Hi George, saw you started posting a couple of weeks back. LinkedIn can be tricky to navigate alone."

By empathizing with George and showing I had done my research on him, I wasn't trying to sell anything. I was merely depositing value, as Josh Braun suggests in his 'deposit and withdrawal' approach to professional relationships. So that's why I wrote, "if you are looking for any support or ideas to bounce - I am your guy."

To back up my offer of help, I added some social proof, "I've been ghostwriting on LinkedIn for US-based founders for three years now." I wanted to give George confidence that I could be of value to him.

“The key really is the Three C’s Framework (self-coined :p)” is where I continued with a tease of a framework that I could share with him, sparking further intrigue. The last line was a simple call to action, "Let me know if you want to discuss LinkedIn over a call!" It was an open invitation, not a hard sell. I was simply offering to share my knowledge and expertise.

The email was designed, not as a sales pitch, but as a form of connection and offering help where I can. That's how meaningful professional relationships are built.

I use the PS. line, which in this case, again, refers to the video. The video was about him dropping the news of shutting down his 15,000 pounds a month YouTube agency.

Towards the end of the video he mentions the prospect of having more time to do what he truly loves. That comedy act he's been putting off for ages? Finally, he can write for it.

So, I reinforced everything I had written in the email by mentioning the video and suggesting that “you might even find the time to write about your comedy act after speaking with me."

So, that was the email that I sent out on 17th April.

The Reply

After four days, just when I was on the brink of firing off a follow-up email, my inbox pinged. It was George. Here's the gist of it for you to read. And this is how the conversation started.

Message From Kabir…

Hey reader!

I'm Kabir Krishn, the founder of upTalkk. I believe that Cold email provides the most asymmetric edge one can have.

Every week, I pen countless cold emails, each a stepping stone towards connection, growth and success.

This newsletter is a weekly digest of cold emails, unveiling the thoughts, strategies, triumphs and setbacks behind each one.

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